Making Agents Rich Episode 105
[0:00:00]
For show notes, transcripts, links, and all kinds of other good stuff, you need to go on over to makingagentsrich.com/105 right now.
Everyone has advice for real estate agents on what they should be doing for marketing and sales of their business and I'm just wondering why that is. Is there something that makes real estate agents insecure?
This is the only show on the Internet dedicated to making agents rich. If you are looking for bright, shiny objects or suffering from information overload, please stop listening now and get a therapist. But if you are seeking proven systems that will give you true freedom, you're in the right place.
[0:01:04]
You are listening to the Making Agents Rich Show.
Today's show is brought to you by The 4-Hour Work Week. Find out how you can escape the nine-to-five, live anywhere, and join the new rich when you read Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week.
Jonathan: You are listening to the Making Agents Rich Show. I am Jonathan Rivera. He is Darin Persinger. And we are your guide on your path to riches. How are you doing today, Darin?
Darin: I am doing fantastically.
Jonathan: All right. You've brought it back.
Darin: Yup.
Jonathan: Fantastically. I'm glad to hear that, man. So on today's show, we're going to be talking about how everyone wants to give marketing advice to real estate agents, and we'll be talking about that in the main topic. But before we go into that, Darin, do you have a number for us in the Numbers Never Lie?
[0:02:00]
Darin: I do. It's connected to episode 104 that we did when we talked about the average credit card debt for a household is $15,799. I wanted to find out a little bit more information on that so I got a number that is 13.10%.
Jonathan: I already know what this is.
Darin: Which is the -- you know what it is?
Jonathan: Clearly, if it ties into the last time, it's their interest rate, right?
Darin: It's the average interest rate on a credit card that's carrying a balance.
Jonathan: So, Darin, let me just ask really quickly. This is like a silly question but does -- and I know we're not financial advisers. We should disclose that there. But doesn't a credit card actually have a higher interest rate when it does have a balance, when it is carrying a balance?
Darin: Exactly. So that's why that rate that is average interest rate on credit card debt is carrying a balance.
[0:03:05]
So for some of you that put money on the card then pay it off every month and you're like, "But I have a 1.9% rate" or something like that, hey, good for you. But there is enough of you out there that are carrying a balance and you're paying on average 13.10%. I don't know about you but I think like on my savings account in the bank, I'm getting like 0.05% return on my money right now. So maybe I should start loaning money out to people, like make my own Persinger credit card or something.
Jonathan: Dude, that is exactly where my mind has been. I have been obsessed with notes. No, seriously. Buying notes and being the mortgage and stuff like that because if people aren't going to take care of themselves, I'm going to be the bank. Screw it. Was that too greedy or too personal?
[0:04:00]
Darin: That's a little too greedy but that's one of the ways that you can make money. You can either invest it into a business or you can loan it and get a return on it. There's only so many ways you can make money.
Jonathan: Interesting stuff, man. And I like that you --
Darin: So I want to go deeper with this.
Jonathan: Okay.
Darin: This number. There's a credit card calculator on the Federal Reserve website. So if you have $10,000 credit card balance and you're being charged 13.10% and you make the minimum payment each time, Jonathan, it would take you 27 years to pay it off and you'd end up paying back a total of $21,271.
Jonathan: Wow. Double. And 27 years, my God, for 10 Gs? That's ridiculous. They're eating up some fees, aren't they?
[0:05:00]
Darin: So if you have credit card debt, whatever you decided that was worth it to get that far into debt -- and I don't care if it's the average of $16,000 that we talked about last episode or even if it's $10,000 or $5,000 or $2,000, you have to take a hard look at what did you get for that and is it really worth how long it's going to take you to pay off and the amount that you're going to have to pay back? Was it really worth it?
Jonathan: Nine times out of ten it is not. You know what, Darin? We haven't done it in a while but I think -- and, MARSians, let us know -- but I think we should get back into some of that Rich talk and maybe talk a little bit about debt and investing and ROI. I think we need to go back to some of those topics that we haven't hit on. We have been very tactical for a long time and I think we need to go to these other places.
Darin: Okay. I like it.
Jonathan: All right. So what do we have in the featured topic today?
[0:06:01]
Darin: All right. Let me set the stage for you.
Jonathan: All right.
Darin: I was having a conversation with a one-to-one client and we were just talking about she was going to go meet with some lenders at some sort of networking event and she was like, "What kind of thing could I offer them of value?" and I was like --
I basically gave her the talk about what I did last episode about investing in real estate and I go, "Do you believe in the product? Why don't you just talk to them? Chances are, they own their own home and they don't have access to the MLS most likely. They don't know what's going on with their property. Why don't you give them a market activity report like we teach inside the Seller Getter?" Because they are also home owners, why treat them just as a lender? They're also a home owner. Just treat them like that, give them value, treat them like anyone else in your database. Don't make these things more complicated than they need to be.
[0:07:01]
And then we got into this topic about what about title reps and home inspectors, just all the people involved in a real estate transaction in the real estate industry, right? And with me being back in real estate sales and getting on people's email lists not intentionally but wherever people are scraping my name and email address from and starting to send me stuff, there is just something that I have noticed, Jonathan --
Jonathan: Oh, yeah?
Darin: -- is that everyone has advice for real estate agents on what they should be doing for marketing and sales of their business and I'm just wondering why that is. Is there something that makes real estate agents insecure that they go, "Well, I need a title rep to tell me what to do. I need a home inspector to tell me how to get my name out there. I need a lender to tell me what I should be doing for my business development strategy because I just don't know."
[0:08:01]
I'm wondering why aren't real estate agents, why can't we flip that script? Why aren't agents saying, "Hey, lender, here's what you should be doing. Title rep, here's what you should be doing"? Why does everyone assume real estate agents are insecure and incompetent and they need advice all the time?
Jonathan: Wow. That is a good little flip there. We could be offering advice to them for sure. I'm calling myself "we" as a real estate agent. I'm an investor. That counts. But it is kind of interesting and maybe that's because it's like a low-hanging fruit, an easy draw, right? "Oh, we're doing this technology conference. Come on. Eat donuts and learn how to market from nobody" but just to get people to show up. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe it's that culture, that meeting culture and having to have events. I mean, why are so many people giving advice and why are we even giving advice, Darin?
Darin: I mean, that's a good question. And also, I'm wondering why real estate agents take the advice because they --
[0:09:02]
I think lenders and title reps and home inspectors and whoever else would stop giving it if agents said, "You know what? Take your newsletter tips and stuff it. I didn't sign up for this. I know what you're trying to do. You want business from me." So why don't you just be good at closing your loan or be good at issuing title insurance and stop telling me how to do my job?
Jonathan: Hmm.
Darin: You're not the one that's sitting across the table from a home seller trying to convince them that this is the price that they should list at. You're not out showing homes to buyers at all hours of the night and on the weekends.
So, more importantly, I'm wondering why do real estate agents take so much advice from these other industries? And I guess the reason why I give advice to real estate agents is because that's -- I mean, that's the business I'm in. I'm not in the business of giving loans or doing title or doing home inspections. I am in the business of giving advice to real estate agents.
[0:10:00]
Jonathan: That was always a key differentiator, Darin. That's where we talked about the 30-foot Rule, right? You've walked the walk and now you're talking the talk. That's what I was again at because we both -- I mean, we both still make a living through real estate one way or another. I do it through rentals. You're doing it now as an active agent, closing deals. But there is a difference from the people actually doing it successfully and then the people just talking about what maybe it could be.
Darin: Yeah. So why do agents take the advice then --
Jonathan: I think you're right. I think they're insecure.
Darin: -- from their peers, from the people that are involved in the transaction with them? I guess if I was an agent and a lender wanted to give me marketing advice, I'd go, "You know what? Why don't you go get your real estate license and go sell some real estate then if you're so good at this?" or "Why don't you go generate the freaking leads and give them to me then?"
[0:11:02]
Jonathan: There you go. That wouldn't be a bad deal.
Darin: Yeah. Stop giving me advice. Go do it. Give me the lead. I'll take them out and show them the properties, write up the offer, and you get the loan. Stop talking about it and do something about it, lender.
Jonathan: When I lived in Maryland a long, long time ago, they used to say don't talk about it, be about it.
Darin: Be about it.
Jonathan: That's right. Be about it. Yup. Man, I don't know. I wonder the same thing. Why are so many agents taking advice from these people? Do you think that whole concept of getting your name out there since that's so prevalent in real estate, that people obsess with that getting your name out there kind of thing, they don't know exactly how to get their name out there so they'll listen to anybody that tells them how to get their name out there?
Darin: I think, as a real estate agent, I kind of want you to be offended.
[0:12:01]
Because when people are adding you to their email list without your permission and they start sending you these tips and ideas and things that you should be doing for your own business without you saying, "Hey, what do you do?" and if there's going to be a question --
If you want to have a Mastermind, I guess that's one thing, like, "Hey, lender, what do you do to get business?" Don't tell me what I should do. Tell me what you do to get your business. "Oh. Well, I just market to real estate agents and tell them how to do their business." Oh. Well, then shut up.
But what I look at is the reason why I think you should be offended is the reason why they're doing this is they either think you are incompetent, that you don't know what you're doing so they get to tell you or, two, that even if you do know what to do, you are so insecure that you won't do it so this is their way to weasel their way in to look like a credible resource so that you kick business back their way. Either way, I think you should be offended by it.
[0:13:04]
I want there to be a revolution. I want real estate agents to rise up, mark all those emails that are coming from vendors that are unsolicited as spam, and then add them to your list and start a new list of sending them marketing tips.
Jonathan: Video to come soon.
Darin: Yeah.
Jonathan: I like that. A little reversal. But agents do it all the time too, Darin, because I end up on all these lists like buying houses in Houston and Seattle and I'm like, "I don't know why I'm on your list."
Darin: We could do a show on that. I think that's a completely different episode.
Jonathan: Okay.
Darin: That's a different story though because that's just -- I don't know what that is. That's just spamming for spam's sake. But at least they're still talking about real estate. They are not emailing us and saying, "Here's how you guys should market your podcasts and your programs and I'm going to start a newsletter tip. And then, by the way, if you have any referrals send them my way because I'm giving you great advice on helping your business," right?
[0:14:11]
Jonathan: When you said that just now, I felt offended so now I know what you mean. Now I know what you're telling the MARSians to do. I'm like, "Who the hell are you to tell me how to do my podcast, huh?"
Darin: So as I was talking to my client about this, there's a portion of Tim Ferriss' book that popped into my head and I pulled it out and we talked about this. So I want to read to you a portion of this book and maybe we can talk about it a little bit. But here's what Tim Ferriss says.
"It's lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fierce for 'realistic' goals, paradoxically making them the most time and energy-consuming. If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think."
[0:15:10]
Jonathan: Boy, ain't that the truth? Which book is that?
Darin: 4-Hour Work Week.
Jonathan: It is The 4-Hour Work Week. It's true. But I think we are programmed. And I don't want to go too far down this rabbit hole but I think we are programmed to want to be mediocre by our school system and by the way society is in general. It's almost like everybody should be the same. We're all winners. Let's show up to the factory 7:00 to 3:30. I think all that stuff conditions you to want to be or just to only shoot for mediocrity.
Darin: Okay. Well, the reality is that if everyone's thinking that way, then all you have to do is step up to the front of the room and say, "Hey, I know what we should do. Let's go this way. Let's do things this way. Let's do it that way. I got an idea." And everyone's going to basically follow you because they are too insecure to say anything about it.
[0:16:06]
Jonathan: Right. They are little drones.
Darin: Yeah. And so I guess I just don't -- this goes back to this thing about, you know, I've talked on the show before, Jonathan, that I don't want to be considered a thought leader. I don't want fans. I think that's a ridiculous thing to have in business. If you want to be a fan of Felix Hernandez or Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers, an athlete, that's even a little ridiculous -- or a movie star. That's a little ridiculous but, fine.
But fanboys of business thought leaders is just such a weird concept to me. I just don't get it and I think that's because of some insecurity that takes place. I think real estate agents do not need to feel insecure about who they are, their marketing, what it is that they do. You don't need to be fans of thought leaders and you definitely don't need to be listening to lenders and title reps and home inspectors and whoever else -- home stagers -- that are giving you marketing advice and tips.
[0:17:19]
Jonathan: Freedom. So do we have three tips that we can throw at the MARSians?
Darin: One, if you're not good at marketing, if you're not good at sales, invest some time and money into getting good at that because that's what you're hired to do.
Jonathan: Yeah.
Darin: But I would just caution you. Who are you taking advice from? Is it the local lender, a local title rep? Because where is their stuff coming from? By the way, what if those lenders -- wouldn't it be a paradox if those lenders, title reps are just taking notes from our show and sending it out to everyone? "Hey, I heard some good advice from these two guys. Check this out."
[0:18:01]
Jonathan: Stop listening to me.
Darin: And we're saying -- yeah. Oh, boy. That'll be funny.
Jonathan: It would be funny. I hope I see that.
Darin: But I do think a lot of the advice comes from that. It's not actually coming from your local lender or your local title rep. It's getting syndicated from somewhere else and they're just passing it on to you.
Jonathan: Right. The echo chamber so to speak.
Darin: Yeah. So you need to get good at marketing if you're not but be careful of who take advice from.
Jonathan: Is that tip number two? Be careful who you take advice from?
Darin: I guess. Be careful who you take advice from.
Jonathan: And with that, be careful who you take advice from, we are putting a link in the show notes to the show that we did on the 30-foot Rule which is more about who you take advice from so you guys can check that out, makingagentsrich.com/105 to get to the show notes. And do we have a third tip?
[0:19:00]
Darin: Yeah, I would start marketing to all of those people that are marketing to you. Start telling them how they should do their job. Because, by the way, that might be part of the learning process going back to number one. I know that when I teach something or I coach something, I know it better.
Jonathan: Yeah.
Darin: So maybe you should start sending all these lenders and title reps your own marketing tips newsletter.
Jonathan: I hope to see that. I hope to see that.
Darin: By the way, just another quick tip. This is something I've talked to quite a few of my clients about especially during the social media craze type thing. My thing was why are you teaching social media to all the other real estate agents that are your competition at the local level?
You want to give back to the industry? Wow. That's really great for you. But how much money do you have saved in the bank? Have you paid off a house yet? Are you saved up from retirement?
[0:20:03]
I think you need to earn before you start returning. If you haven't earned yet, what are you really returning?
Jonathan: Right. It's theory.
Darin: So my thing was if you feel like you're really good at the social media thing and you have something of value, go to the chamber or walk up and down the street of all the local businesses and say, "Hey, I'm going to do a workshop about how you can help your restaurant and your coffee shop, your paint store, your flower shop. I'm going to show you how to do better with social media and get an online presence." At least you're meeting people that you could add to your database and that they could buy or sell real estate with you or give you referrals.
Jonathan: Right. Instead of training up your competition.
Darin: Yeah.
Jonathan: Duh. Good stuff, man. So, Darin, what do we have coming up for next show?
[0:21:00]
Darin: Are you ready for this?
Jonathan: I'm listenin'.
Darin: The best, simplest productivity tip you'll ever hear.
Jonathan: Oh. Back into productivity, of long-awaited return of productivity. Awesome. So that's coming up on the next show. Actually, today's show sponsor, we're going to give Tim Ferriss another shout out and today's show is brought to you by The 4-Hour Work Week. I think that was a big influence on me and you as well, Darin. So Tim Ferriss' book, 4-Hour Work Week. You can go to Amazon and get it or you can go to the show notes where we'll have a link to it.
With that, that wraps up Making Agents Rich number 105, why is everybody trying to give real estate agents marketing advice, why are we trying to give you guys marketing advice. Good stuff. Good stuff, Darin. Thank you for tuning in, MARSians, and we'll see you on the next one.
Yeah, that just happened. If you got that kick in the butt you needed to jumpstart your real estate business, then you can thank us by rating this show on iTunes. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to subscribe to get new shows delivered free.
[0:22:17] End of Audio